'Paw' foreign investor vs 'Lion' individual and institutional investors clash... KOSPI closes down 0.6%

The KOSPI closed at 6,258.77, down 37.61 points (0.60%) from the previous trading day on the 7th, marking a second consecutive day of decline. Foreign investors shifted to selling during the session, pulling down the index, but individual and institutional investors stepped in with net purchases, cushioning the drop.

On this day, the KOSPI closed at 6,258.77, down 37.61 points (0.60%) from the previous trading day.

In the KOSPI market (based on Korea Exchange), foreign investors sold 862.4 billion won worth of stocks. Individual and institutional investors purchased 266.9 billion won and 578.9 billion won, respectively. Foreign investors initially engaged in net buying at the opening but shifted to net selling during the session, intensifying selling pressure. Conversely, individual investors switched to net buying during the session, helping reduce the index decline alongside institutional investors.

Lee Kyung-min, FICC Deputy Head at Daishin Securities, said, "Despite foreign net selling, institutional investors and financial investment firms showed supply-demand incentives, resulting in a range-bound fluctuation pattern." He added, "News that Nvidia is reviewing a downward revision of the HBM (high-bandwidth memory) specifications for Rubin Ultra weighed on sentiment, and weakness in SK Hynix, which has high exposure to HBM, led the index decline."

Among KOSPI sectors, securities and construction fell more than 2%. Insurance, telecommunications, IT (information and communications) services, and electrical equipment & electronics declined by around 1%. Metals, machinery & equipment, medical & precision instruments, and electrical & gas remained roughly flat, while textiles & apparel, transportation equipment & parts, transportation & warehousing, non-ferrous metals, distribution, and paper & wood closed with slight gains. Real estate rose more than 1%, while entertainment & culture and pharmaceuticals increased by over 2%. Food & tobacco and chemicals rose by around 3% and 4%, respectively.

Among the top market capitalization stocks in the KOSPI, SK Hynix and Samsung Life Insurance fell more than 4%. SK Square declined by around 3%, and Hyundai Motor dropped by about 1%. Samsung Electronics and Samsung C&T closed roughly flat. Samsung Biologics and KB Financial Group rose by around 2%. Samsung Electro-Mechanics gained more than 3%. LG Energy Solution and Hanwha Aerospace surged by over 4%.

The KOSDAQ closed at 798.81, down 2.86 points (0.36%) from the previous trading day. Although it started higher at the opening, it ended lower, halting the five consecutive days of gains that had continued since the 31st of last month.

In the KOSDAQ market, foreign investors and institutional investors sold net 253.9 billion won and 103.0 billion won, respectively. Individual investors bought net 340.5 billion won.

Among KOSDAQ sectors, machinery & equipment fell more than 3%, and non-ferrous metals dropped by over 2%. Transportation equipment & parts, manufacturing, telecommunications, distribution, medical & precision instruments, transportation & warehousing, IT services, and electrical equipment & electronics closed roughly flat. Chemicals, textiles & apparel, pharmaceuticals, and general services showed slight gains. Metals, entertainment & culture, and finance rose by more than 1%. Paper & wood surged by 8%.

Among the top market capitalization stocks in the KOSDAQ, RAINBOW Robotics closed with weakness of around 5%. Joo Sung Engineering and Wonik IPS fell by over 4%. Reno Industrial dropped by about 1%. EcoPro, Peptron, and Ligand Bio rose by more than 2%. AlteoGen and ABLE Bio rose by around 3%, while EcoPro BM gained by about 4%. HLB showed strong performance of around 5%.

On this day, in the Seoul foreign exchange market, the won-dollar exchange rate closed at 1,416.1 won, down 7.7 won from the previous trading day's closing price, concluding weekly trading (at 3:30 p.m.).